Adam & Co welcomes soaring profits - and new city rival

Latest results for the firm, which was founded in the Edinburgh in 1983, also showed the return on equity was also on the up, leaping from 11.5 per cent to 17.3 per cent.

However, managing director, Graham Storrie, pointed out that the dramatic increase had been supported by some one-off items and a more conservative future target of 15 per cent will now be worked towards with the support of its taxpayer-backed parent.

The Companies House documents also show that dividends of £15m and £4m were approved during 2014, compared with a total of £25m in 2013, while employee numbers fell from 179 to 158 over the year.

The highest-paid director – likely to be Storrie – received £390,771, up from £336,403.

Mr Storrie also took the chance offered by the publishing of the firm’s latest figures to welcome a new player on Edinburgh’s high net worth client scene.

Hampden & Co, founded in 2010 by former Adam & Co chairman, Ray Entwistle, opened to clients last month after securing final regulatory approval and becoming the first private bank to be set up in the UK for three decades.

With a head office in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, at the opposite end of George Square to Adam & Co’s HQ’s in St Andrew Square, Mr Storrie said of the new rival: “Competition is a good thing. It keeps everyone on their toes.”